Galleymyst's Story
by Undetectable Person
Summary: When a tough young Gelert named Galleymyst is abandoned by her once loving owner, she must begin a rocky and perilous journey, rediscovering herself, a sense of home and family, and the ability to love.
1. Part One: Marina

**Author's Note**: In a burst of insanity, I, Flare, the fifteen-year-old _Newsies_ fanfic author and huge slacker, have decided to post the Neopets fanfics that I wrote almost four years ago, when I was eleven. Yes, you read that correctly: _eleven._ And I haven't changed a thing. I'd still love reviews, just being the huge review junkie I am, and I will add to preserve some dignity that I still like these stories and think they're worth reading for Neopets fans. But do just keep in mind that if I ever decide to write anything else for Neopets, it should (hopefully) be quite a bit improved.

And without further ado, I give you the story that was one of my "huge" obsessive projects in my younger days. (grins)

Galleymyst's Story

**Part One: ****Marina**

Hello, reader. I am enchanted to meet you. My name is Galleymyst, or "Myst" for short, and my beloved owner, HauntedMoon, has asked me to tell you my story.

I must confess, while there are a few things I happen to excel at (such as fighting, swimming, rowing, navigating, and tying knots), I fear that storytelling has never been among my greatest talents. However, HauntedMoon feels that my tale deserves to be told, and due to her support and that of my dear sisters, IsadoraMoonChild and Twlight414, I am able to bring to you today the story of my life.

It all started, you see, with a girl named Marina.

The memories of NeoPets happen to go back a bit further than those of humans, which is why my earliest memory is of opening my eyes only seconds after I was first created.

The first thing that I ever laid eyes on now comes to mind in vivid detail: a rough, worn face, a mane of untidy sandy-colored hair, two big shining blue eyes, and the most joyous of smiles. I took my first breath, and my nostrils filled with the scent of salt and fish...the scent of the sea. And the first sound I ever heard was the sound of that voice, strong and gentle and loving, saying to me...

"Welcome to the world, Galleymyst. I'm Marina, your owner, and I love you already."

I smiled and snuggled into Marina's arms, and she stroked my yellow fur and whispered in my ear, "Yes, I do, and I will always love you...forever, for always, unending."

And I felt exactly the same way about her.

With Marina, I felt that I was the happiest pet in Neopia. I was her only pet, and she was as kind to me as any pet could wish for his or her owner to be. She was not rich; indeed, she was rather poor. She could never afford to buy me any expensive books or fancy toys or powerful BattleDome weapons. But that was fine with me. I never wanted any of those things; all I wanted was what Marina could give me. And, oh, what she gave me!

She showered me with affection from the moment I was created. She never failed to keep me well-fed on delicious, healthy low-cost foods, or to keep me bathed and groomed (although she never touched her own untidy mane of hair), or to tell me, every single night when she tucked me into bed, that she would love me forever, for always, unending.

Although we didn't have many NeoPoints, the life which Marina and I led together was far from boring. Marina, you see, was a sailor. She wasn't just a sailor; she loved the sea with a passion. It was like a part of her. You, dear reader, probably think my name rather strange. Well, even that was a product of Marina's love of the ocean and of sailing. She named me "Galleymyst" for the ancient Roman ships called "galleys" and for the beautiful silvery-white mist that swirls over the ocean after a storm.

Marina and I lived in a NeoHome right by the sea, and there was never anything in the entire world that girl would rather do than sail; she'd have done so all day, every day, if she could. Marina's father, a ship captain who was lost at sea when she was ten years old, had been the one to teach her. She still had his little boat, and it was her most prized possession; she loved the feeling of the wind whipping back her hair; the tangy smell and the salty, fishy taste of the sea; the cool, refreshing spray of the water on her skin.

She would always take me sailing with her, of course, and I grew to love the sea just as much as she did. It was Marina who taught me most of those talents that I mentioned at the beginning of this story; talents that any respectable sailor should possess.

Anyway, as you can see, Marina and I must have been the happiest pair in Neopia. The only dent in our otherwise perfect happiness was Marina's growing frustration as she tried again and again to get herself hired as a sailor. No captain seemed to want to hire a girl of her age and status. It was the only thing Marina truly wanted: to be a real sailor. And really...although it hurts me deeply to say it...she wanted that more than she wanted me.

You see, one day, the rare occasion occurred that Marina left me home alone. She was going down to the wharf, where a ship was coming to deliver a cargo of PetPets. She'd heard that one of the sailors was getting on in years and planning to retire, and she was hoping that the ship's captain would hire her in his place.

It was very early in the morning, I was still asleep, and Marina didn't want to wake me. So she took all of her NeoPoints, which she had been saving for as long as I could remember-Marina never did consider herself above bribery-and went without me. I was sleeping deeply, and did not awaken until I heard the door slam with a resounding bang and Marina take the stairs three at a time.

The door to my room burst open, and Marina raced in and dove onto my bed. At first I smiled, for her face was lit up with obvious joy. But then she turned to look straight at me, and I watched as her smile wilted, her eyes filled with sorrow, and she hung her head.

"Myst," she whispered, reaching out one hand, worn and calloused from wooden oars, streaked with ocean salt, and rested it ever so gently on my cheek. "Myst...the captain said he'll hire me."

With a little shriek, I leapt to my feet. My face bloomed into a smile the size of the ocean. I let out a whoop and threw myself at Marina, licking her face all over. When I finally got over my initial excitement, I fell back on the bed, laughing with joy.

"Marina, congratulations! That's WONDERFUL news! It's what you've always wanted! It's going to be so much fun, living on a ship, and..."

I trailed off. A tear had just spilled from one of Marina's midnight-blue eyes and was coursing down her cheek. I was shocked. I had never seen Marina cry before, not even after all the brutal and unjust rejections she had received from various ship captains...so now that she had finally been accepted, why was she crying?

Gently, I licked the tear from her cheek and lifted her chin with one paw. I peered into her eyes as two more tears slid down her face. "Marina," I whispered, my excitement forgotten, "what in Neopia is wrong?"

Marina sighed. "Myst," she said softly, putting her arm around me, "the ship doesn't allow NeoPets."

My mouth dropped open. I was too shocked to speak.

"I begged and begged," Marina hurried on. "I pleaded on my knees! I told the captain you were my only pet, that you were gentle and sweet and perfectly well-behaved, that you barely ate anything, that you were not a single speck of trouble. But he wouldn't give in. It was like begging a boulder to move. Finally, I told him that if you couldn't come with me, I wouldn't take the job. And..." She took a shuddering breath, "...he said, 'Well, you can't have the job, then.'"

I finally found my voice. "And!?"

She put her face in her hands. "And I...I said I'd get back to him. And he said it had better be soon, because the ship would sail in two hours."

I knew what I had to do. I knew it perfectly well. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life, but it was my only choice. I couldn't make my best and only friend in the whole world give up her lifelong dream for me. If I did that to her, things would never be the same between us. It was my happiness or hers...and I chose hers.

"Marina," I said, "being a sailor is your dream. You need to follow your dream, no matter what. You need to take that job."

Marina hugged me...long and hard. I hugged her back, and we hugged and rocked for a long time without saying anything. Marina did a lot of crying, too, but I wouldn't let myself cry. I knew that if I cried, even one tear, Marina would never be able to take that job. And she had to. She just had to. It was her last chance to achieve her dream.

Then, finally, Marina let me go, and she told me that she hadn't needed the NeoPoints to bribe the captain. She knew there was nothing else she would ever need them for...Marina could always find a way to get the essentials, like food and clothing. So she had spent them all at the wharf and bought me a present, which she selected from the ship's cargo. Now it was to be a goodbye present.

Standing up and wiping a sleeve across her face, Marina left the room and returned a moment later with an adorable, fluffy green bundle with a big red bow around his neck.

"This is Greenox," she told me. "He'll take care of you until a new owner adopts you, Galleymyst. I know you'll get the best owner in the entire world."

She was the best owner in the entire world, I thought. I didn't want any other owner. But I held tight to my new little Christmas Doglefox as Marina scooped me up and carried me downstairs, out the door, across the beach, and into town, and very gently, with trembling arms and barely held-back tears, deposited me behind the barbed-wire fence of the Pound.

"Remember, Myst," she whispered fiercely in my ear, "remember that I still love you...forever, for always, unending."

And then there was the far-off sound of a foghorn, and Marina kissed me on the head, and it was my turn to cry as she turned and walked back across town, back across the beach, down to the edge of the sea.

Far in the distance, I could just make out the dark, looming shape of a ship, rocking back and forth amid swirling white mists on the crooning waves of the sea.

It may have been my imagination, but I thought I saw a tiny figure board that ship, and as it pulled away from the dock, I thought I saw her hand waving...waving goodbye.

I never saw Marina again.


	2. Part Two: The Pound

**Part Two: The Pound**

I could barely sleep a wink that night. I cried and cried until I ran out of tears. I was cold and uncomfortable and hungry and frightened. I had never really been any of those things before. With Marina, there had always been warm blankets to keep out the cold, a soft comfy bed, and enough food to fill me up. As for being frightened, Marina wasn't afraid of anything, so I wasn't either. But now that Marina had abandoned me, it was like I had lost half of myself. I was alone, and lost, and yes...I was scared.

I had never needed anything to cuddle with at night...I'd never had a special Fuzzie Bear or plushie like some other pets do. But now, I held tight to Greenox the little Doglefox, as if he were my lifeline. He let me bury my face in his soft fur, and licked away my tears.

The next morning, I began to learn about life in the Pound.

I was awakened by a sharp kick and a gruff voice.

"Wake up, ya stupid lazy Gelert! That scary Techo'll be makin' 'is rounds soon! Ya wanna get our 'ole compound sold ta some Mutilator!?"

I had finally managed to fall asleep at 5:00 in the morning...and slept only about an hour, thanks to the large red female Lupe standing over me.

"Techo? Compound? Mutilator?" I muttered as I sat up with great effort and rubbed my eyes to clear my blurry vision.

The Lupe rolled her eyes. "Clueless brat! Don'cha even know what a compound is? It's made up o' three pets grouped t'gedda in the Pound!"

She kicked an enormous yellow male Skeith sitting motionless nearby, whose only reaction was a loud grunt. I deduced that this Lupe and Skeith were the other two pets in my compound.

"Oh...what's a mutilator?" I queried. But the Lupe only shuddered and turned away. Then she suddenly spun around again, whipped out one paw, and pinned me to the ground.

"F'get it," she growled between six-inch fangs as I stared at her in sheer, wide-eyed terror. "Ya just f'get that word, brat, an' don't mention it again. Be grateful if ya never know what it means..."

And she threw me like a rag doll into a corner of the small fenced-in compound, where I collapsed in helpless sobs. She shot me a look of pure disgust and stalked off to peer anxiously over the fence.

All at once, I remembered.

"Greenox!" I cried, looking around anxiously. To my immense relief, he came scurrying out of the shadows, where he must have been hiding from my terrifying compound-mates, and hopped onto my shoulder.

At that moment, the Techo arrived.

Now, imagine, esteemed reader, that you are a NeoPet...let's say, a Gelert. You are small and furry and naive, and before today, the scariest thing you have ever seen is a few menacing Jetsams trailing your former owner's boat.

Now, a long, dark shadow falls over you. You look up...and up...and up...into the face of an enormous creature, looming high, high above you. Its fur is the color of yellowed rotting flesh, it is dressed in a long white lab coat, and its eyes...its dark, narrow, ferocious eyes...are glaring right down on you.

I let out a scream that probably reached the ears of Marina out at sea. Thus went my first meeting with Dr. Techo.

To my utter surprise, this nightmarish monster did not pull out a gleaming butcher knife and make short work of us. Instead, while I trembled violently with Greenox hidden in my arms, Dr. Techo delivered sharp kicks to the Lupe, the Skeith, and me, grunted "All awake," whipped out a pencil and a legal pad, scribbled something down, and shuffled on to the next compound.

Don't ask me where I came up with the question, "What about breakfast?"

The reply was shouted hoarsely by a sardonic voice two compounds away.

"Ya actually think they _feeds_ us?"

"Newbies," someone else grumbled in an annoyed tone.

I was, indeed, a "newbie," innocent and trusting. I was not really soft or weak; a life of financial problems and sailing does not make a NeoPet soft or weak. But I was used to warmth, and cleanliness, and always enough food; and, most of all, I was used to love...to care and affection. Now I look back on those times and weep silent tears. Oh, that we could all remain newbies forever.

But we can't, and I didn't.

Day after day, night after night, as browsers at the Pound bypassed my cage without a second glance, as the dreadful Dr. Techo made his daily rounds, as the Lupe beat and taunted me, as the Skeith sat and stared with his blank, emotionless eyes, and as, little by little, the terrible plague known as "starvation" took its toll upon me, I lost all my innocence, and all my trust, and my heart hardened, and my eyes dulled, and I became a newbie no more.

I grew thin. Sickeningly thin. Thin to the point of transparency...so that my ribs and bones stood out clear and sharp against my skin.

I grew ill. Germs and bacteria were everywhere...everywhere. The floor of the compound, the fence that surrounded it, my two compound-mates and all of the pets in the surrounding compounds, the very air...all were filled, swirling, flowing, twisting and squirming with germs. My cheeks flushed. My head pounded. My nose ran. My eyes watered. My throat grew as dry as a desert, for the only water anyone could get was obtained from a day's dig in the rock-hard dirt floors of our compounds. My fur dropped out in massive amounts, leaving huge bald patches all over my body.

Every morning when I woke up, and every night when I went to sleep, I knew I was weaker...weaker. Then came the day when I could not speak, then the day when I could not stand, then the day when I could not even sit up...eventually, I couldn't move at 't hear the voices of the other pets...everything looked blurry...and then day and night became one, filled with visions, horrible, grotesque, distorted images, delusions of past and present and things that had never existed anywhere, except in my worst nightmares.

Through it all, that faithful little Doglefox, who Marina had promised would take care of me, stuck by my side, and gave whatever comfort he could, even after I could no longer lift a paw to stroke him, even after I could not hear his sweet little yips, even when he became just another hideous demon and I would strike out at him at night with inhuman cries. But Greenox was small and weak, even more so than I, and he too grew gaunt and sickly and hovered at the boundaries of the living world.

Of course, every morning, without fail, the Lupe, haggard and wild-eyed, staggered to my side and pried my eyes open, shook me, nipped me sharply around the ears, and dragged me to my feet, and when the hated Dr. Techo stopped at our compound on his rounds, invariably he gave us each a kick, then muttered, satisfied, "All awake," and marked the three of us down on his legal pad, scheduled us all for one more day of torture.

And then at last...at last it came. At last came the day when my eyes would not open. And when the Lupe tried to drag me to my feet, I sagged back to the ground. Unseeing. Unhearing. Unconscious. An empty shell.

"Hey!" she growled, rather weakly...for, although she was by far older and stronger than I was, the Pound never fails to take its toll on any pet. "Hey, wake up!" She kicked me.

I did not react. I actually heard her voice, but it was from far away...so far away...many many universes away, and made no sense to me at the time, and did not matter.

"Hey, Gelert, WAKE UP!!"

She scratched me. She bit me. She threw me against the fence. She called to me again...and again...and again...and even through a haze too thick and impenetrable for almost anything to get through, I detected the beginnings of fear in her voice, and their development, their advancement, into cold, sharp, raw terror.

Then the Techo came.

He kicked the Skeith, the wide-eyed, staring, unseeing Skeith. He kicked the Lupe, and I think she tried to bite off his filthy paw. He kicked me. Grunted.

Through my ever-thickening haze, I just barely made out a long, shrill scratch. The scratch of a pencil across a legal pad...scratching out the name of Galleymyst.

Then Dr. Techo picked me up, and threw me in a sack, and carried me to a truck. He tossed me in the back of the truck and took off down the road, and an anguished howl echoed after me, as I was carried from the home of the dying to the home of the living dead.


	3. Part Three: The Mutilator and Jetzu

**Part Three: The Mutilator...and Jetzu**

Pain. Wires. Probing, searching wires. Blood...the heavy, salty, metallic smell of blood. Chemicals. Medicine. A hospital smell.

Darkness...solid darkness...except for the single harsh white light glaring down on me. Glass. Thick glass. Unbreakable glass, all around me. Enclosing me. No air. Imprisonment. Suffocation.

Potions. Dark, ominous, swirling potions in mysteriously shaped bottles, lining shelves all around me.

Horror. Despair. This place is wrong...wrong. Things happen here that should never, ever happen. Unspeakably repulsive things. What goes on here, what occurs here, is unheard of in the civilized world. Barbaric. Sick and twisted. Evil.

I apologize, especially if I have frightened you. I know that I sound...incoherent. I may, at times...when telling you of..._that place. _The memories of it are so...vivid. Horribly vivid.

I remember Marina, and the Pound, well enough, but my memories of them are more like dreams. As if they could never truly have been part of my life...although they were. But as for the place I describe to you now...it is still so real. So nauseatingly real. Even my own family...HauntedMoon, Isadora, and Twlight...don't know that I still have nightmares that leave me screaming on the floor...nightmares about _that place._

The light. The smell. So intense. Overwhelming. The glass, so confining. I am smothering. I cannot breathe. I am in pain. So much pain. Too starved and sick and weak to move.

This is not like the Pound...so much worse...far, far worse. Far worse than filth and starvation and germs and hostility and even death.

That first day in the Pound, I thought I was afraid. Afraid? Now the word "afraid" seemed weak and senseless. A baby word. The fear I felt now was so intense, so incredibly overwhelming, like a glacier of ice in which I was imprisoned, with the walls pressing in closer...and closer. I was literally sick, sick with uncontrollable, throbbing panic. Pure, animal terror.

Then I saw her.

You must remember that I had not had much social experience in my life, not much interaction with other NeoPets. Those few I had associated with had all either lived in Marina's poor neighborhood or been residents of the Pound. Therefore, obviously, the majority of these pets had not been painted. That was why, when I set eyes on that Cloud Gelert, I thought she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen....and, by far, the saddest.

Her coat had clearly once been a shimmering, silky sky-blue, speckled with misty white wisps and swirls of cloud. But now it was dull and faded, and covered with bruises, open sores, and bald patches, just like mine. While I could easily conjure up a picture of her as a plump and healthy pup with shining, starry blue eyes, she was now almost a mirror image of me, thin as a rail and transparent as a mirror.

Her eyes, however, were different from mine. They too were filled with starvation, pain, and suffering, but with something else too...something deep and cold and empty and awful. It was not so much something in her eyes as it was a lack of something: hope. Utter hopelessness was in that Gelert's eyes. Despair. She had given up on everything...had lost her will to live. Yet, oh, she was terrified...I could smell her fear through the unbreakable glass of my tiny prison and hers. Like me, she was connected to a tangle of wires and tubes. Her eyes stared straight ahead, unseeing, but when I mouthed a question to her, she blinked and answered.

I moved my lips to silently form the words, What is this place?

"The Laboratory of the Living Dead."

Her voice was slow, carefully measured. Each syllable was neatly separated from the previous and following syllables, and each one fell heavily, like a rock.

"What?" I whispered, my voice just barely audible. It a razor-sharp splinter that pierced the silent, foul-stenched air. It quavered uncontrollably with repulsion and panic. My throat felt as if it was packed thick with dust and pierced with needles. The word came out as two jerky syllables, without the "w" sound. It was the first word I had uttered in days; I hadn't known I could still speak at all. I would have gladly died for one drink of water.

Somehow, the beautiful, sad Cloud Gelert understood me.

"The home of the Necromage," she continued in the same deadpan voice.

I moved my lips, unable to speak again. Who? I mouthed.

"A Mutilator."

Slowly, deliberately, she cocked her head to one side. "You didn't wake up, did you?"

I stared at her.

"In the Pound. You didn't wake up?"

I shook my head.

"Neither did I. That's why he brought me here. That Techo. No. That monster. Not really a NeoPet at all. A monster. He brought me here in that truck...just as he brought you. Just as he brings all pets who don't wake up."

I shuddered.

"Are you wondering why I can still speak? Why I'm not dead by now? But I am, of course. There is no life here. There is no possibility, no suggestion, no hint of life. This is only living death. But I have not passed on to the world of the dead because of the chemicals. In the tubes and wires. Some of them are to sustain you. To keep you here, imprison you here. In the world of the living dead. They won't let your heart stop. They won't let you claim eternal peace. Instead..." she waved her paw around, "...this."

I squirmed, revolted. Suddenly, I thought of one more question to ask. The chemicals in those wires and tubes had been doing their job. I found myself able to speak, though just in a whisper.

"What's your name?"

The Gelert's eyes filled with tears. "Jetzu."

I nodded. "I'm Galleymyst."

Just then....footsteps!

Immediately, every remaining hint of color drained from Jetzu's face. I had never seen such a frightened creature in my life. It was contagious. I felt my heart stop for several seconds as I sat there, trapped, paralyzed, helpless.

"Who is it?" I whispered, although I knew the answer.

"The Necromage."

"What..." my voice shook uncontrollably, "...what do you think...he'll...do with us?"

Jetzu looked surprised at the question. "Why...the same thing he did with all the others. That's what Mutilators do."

I felt my heart hammering painfully against my chest. I was nearly blind with terror now, as the footsteps grew closer...closer.

"Others?" I managed to choke out. "What others?"

Jetzu's mouth fell open, and mutely, she pointed a paw behind the glass case that imprisoned me. I turned my head...and the vision swam before my eyes, shattered into a thousand pieces, as my throat forgot that it was so dry and dehydrated that it was nearly mute, and I pierced the air with a deafening scream.

The image I saw there will haunt me to my dying day.

There were NeoPets. Dozens of them. Staring with eyes as blank and sightless as those of the yellow Skeith in my compound back at the Pound. But these NeoPets were not NeoPets at all. They were...monsters. Everything about them was wrong. Twisted limbs. Bulging eyes. Hair and scales where they did not belong. Extra body parts. Glittering fangs. Horrible frozen expressions of bloodlust...hunger...evil. These silent, motionless, mutilated freaks were beyond hideous, beyond gruesome, beyond words with which they could be accurately described. They were creatures that should never, ever have existed. Mutants.

At that moment, the last footstep struck the floor. A shadow fell over my glass case. A hand as cold, as waxy, as white as a corpse's hand reached out and selected one of the potions from the shelf...and lifted it above one of the tubes that was attached to me, ready to pour it into the tube. I knew where that tube led...straight into my bloodstream.

Until that moment, I had not realized that I was still screaming, my scream growing louder and louder, shriller and shriller, climbing the scale to undefinable heights. Jetzu was curled up inside her glass case, her face twisted in pain, her paws clapped firmly over her ears. The mutants, and this "Necromage," this Mutilator, seemed unaffected by the sound. But at that moment, something truly amazing and remarkable happened. My scream reached a volume that could not be contained, not by anything. The glass that imprisoned me shattered.

My veins shot with adrenaline, I tore myself free from the tangle of tubes and wires. I leapt at Jetzu's case, ready to smash the unbreakable glass, for I was hardly in my right mind. But Jetzu turned her pain-filled, hopeless eyes to me and shook her head.

"It's too late for me," she whispered. "Save yourself. Find HauntedMoon!"

And then the Necromage snatched me from the air in those clammy, waxy hands, and finally I did the first sensible thing I'd done that day. I bit down on that hand with all my might. Its grip relaxed, only slightly, but I managed to twist free...and I ran.

I ran blindly, ran like the wind, like a streak of lightning, like a bullet shot at full speed from a gun. I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't even think; all I knew was that I must run and run and run, and never ever stop.

When you think about it, I had only one place to run to.

When I finally came to my senses, I found myself collapsed, shaking with weakness, very near the point of death, inside a compound of the Pound.

But this time, it was not to be for long.


	4. Part Four: The Master's Mansion

**Part 4: The Master's Mansion**

A tongue on my nose. Someone is licking my nose. No. That is theoretically impossible. Why would anyone be licking my nose?

What!? Greenox!?

No. Impossible. Absolutely impossible. I must be hallucinating.

Somewhere in my mind was some dim partially-formed idea that this must be the same compound I was in before, that Greenox was left behind here when I was taken away, that some pet who had a secret store of food must have nursed him back to health and cared for him. But that thought dissolved as fast as a grain of salt in a glass of water.

There was only one reason I wasn't dead yet: the fluids in those tubes and wires had given me some sustenance and nutrition. But since, thank heavens, I had not been connected to them long, the life support they had given me was quickly used up by my frantic body, and I figured: now. Now, for sure, I will die.

It was kind of nice that Greenox was there. Kind of nice not to die alone.

"Hmm. She isn't painted..."

Huh? Painted? All that my brain could come up with at hearing the word "painted" was a vague, distorted image of a Cloud Gelert.

"Jetzu?" I muttered incoherently.

"...but she does have a PetPet. And a painted PetPet, at that. Stats aren't bad, either. Incredibly ugly little creature, but of course, that's only because she's in the worst possible condition. I'd like to see how she would look all fixed up...may even be good for shows one day, and there are certainly NeoPoints involved in that field...I'll take her."

A good deal of time must have passed during which I was not conscious of anything happening around me. When my eyes did open for the first time and take in my surroundings, I gasped out loud.

I was no longer in the Pound. I was lying in an enormous, blissfully soft, absolutely heavenly feather bed. A huge, fluffy white quilt was wrapped around me, my head was propped up on a cloud of pillows, and the scents of perfume and aromatherapy candles wafted through the air. The floor was covered with an Oriental carpet, a golden fountain gurgled in one corner of the room, and a dozen candles sparkled in a crystal chandelier on the ceiling.

I'd been bathed and brushed till my coat shone, my numerous bruises and wounds had been cleaned, iced, annointed, and bandaged, and a beautiful crystal-blue pendant sparkled on a cord around my neck.

Greenox was nestled against my shoulder, and beside the bed knelt a tall, pale towheaded boy dressed in a formal silk-and-velvet suit, feeding me expensive foods, fancy cures for my countless diseases, and bite after bite of a gleaming Everlasting Apple.

"I've gone to Heaven," was my first thought. It seemed logical enough. When you're certain you're about to die, and then you black out and wake up in a place like that, Heaven seems the obvious conclusion.

I didn't realize I'd spoken aloud until my benefactor smiled.

"No, not quite Heaven," he corrected gently. "What is your name, young Gelert?"

"Galleymyst," I replied, amazed that I still remembered it. Miraculously, I also remembered my manners, and I patted my Doglefox and added, "And this is Greenox."

The boy smiled. "Well, Miss Galleymyst and Master Greenox," he said, "welcome to the Mansion."

My mouth dropped open. "Mansion?" I managed to repeat through a mouthful of NeoPox Pizza. "Do you own it?"

The boy laughed. "No, no! I'm just a servant. Forgive my manners. My name is Travis, and the Master turned you over to me after he adopted you from that horrid Pound."

"The Master?"

Travis offered me a Bottle of Water. I took it gratefully, and gulped down the entire thing in the blink of an eye. He handed me another, and nodded.

"He...doesn't give out his name very often," he explained. "Only to those he trusts most. But the Master is the richest person in all of Neopia."

I gasped, nearly choking on a huge bite of Everlasting Apple. I watched, fascinated, as the large dent I'd just made in the apple immediately vanished, and the apple became whole again.

"Indeed," laughed Travis, patting me on the back. "You are extraordinarily lucky to have been adopted by such a celebrity."

He gave me a long, inscrutable look. "You've had quite a rough time of life, my dear," he observed, "especially lately. Therefore, you may just want to rest for a while. I'd certainly understand if you did. However...do you, by any chance, feel up to meeting your new brother and sisters?"

Three Cans of Neocola and five omelettes later, I was ready. I was also dead nervous. As far as I knew, I'd be spending the rest of my life here at the Mansion with the Master and his servants and his other three pets, the pets I was about to meet. What if they didn't like me?

I shouldn't have bothered worrying. Soon enough, all my worries would 

Travis escorted me into a huge white-tile room. A giant heated indoor swimming pool filled with glittering turquoise water took up most of the room. It had six mushroom-shaped fountains, six diving boards, and four giant twisty water slides.

Three NeoPets sat primly in single file by the side of the pool, soaking their feet. A PetPet was curled up on the floor beside each one. A dozen heavily-armed Shadow Skeiths, apparently bodyguards, stood nearby, blending in with the shadows. Travis quietly left the room, and I turned to the three NeoPets, ready for introductions.

"Um...hi," was my brilliant opening statement. "I'm Galleymyst...but...you can call me Myst. This is Greenox," I added, patting the Christmas Doglefox on my shoulder.

I waited. No response. The three pets kept their eyes fastened on the serene, gently lapping waters of the pool. I stood there staring at the silent NeoPets and shuffling my feet awkwardly for exactly eighty seconds; I have an acute sense of time, since my old owner was a sailor who couldn't afford a watch, and there are no clocks at sea.

Finally...very slowly...very deliberately...the first NeoPet raised her head.

She was a female Faerie Peophin, and just looking at that glittering creature, all violet and silver and wings, took my breath away. She was drenched in so much makeup and perfume and draped in so much jewelry that I didn't know how she could even sit up; the scent of her perfume and that of her sister threatened to drown out the scent of chlorine, and I dimly wondered if she was planning to go swimming in all those rubies and sapphires.

When she spoke, her voice was not the beautiful, musical sound I'd expected from such a magnificent creature. It sounded rather like a badly-tuned violin.

The first thing she did, by the way, before even saying a word, was to look me up and down very carefully, her gold-lined eyes squinting as she scrutinized every millimeter of me, and then Greenox. Her PetPet, a Flosset, peeked around her elbow and smiled maliciously. The Faerie Peophin stroked it absentmindedly. Finally, I discovered that she was not, in fact, mute.

"Who," she asked very slowly, the words rolling disdainfully off her tongue, "are...YOU?" And she regarded me as if I were a piece of dung crawling with maggots that had just been pulled from the bottom of a garbage heap.

And I thought, _This _is my_ sister!?_

What I said, with just the barest hint of sarcasm, was "I just told you; I'm Galleymyst."

That was when the second NeoPet turned to me. Although, like her sister, she could barely be made out under all the powder and glitter and heaps of shimmering jewels, I managed to figure out that she was a Desert Wocky.

She delicately pinched her nose as though some odious stench was wafting from me; I thought it was a sensible thing to do, considering how she wreaked of "Twilight Primrose" and "Evening Spice." A Gathow purred in her lap. When this one spoke, it was like a bat, high and squeaky and nerve-grinding.

"You will address my sister as 'Your Highness,' as well as my brother and myself. What my sister wanted to know was what you are doing here. You're far too lowly even to be a servant. Why, you're not even painted!"

She glared suspiciously. "Did you sneak past the security guards?" She turned as if she was going to call one of the Shadow Skeith bodyguards to remove me from her sight, but now it was her brother's turn. The pungent odor of cologne preceded its owner...and he was a Gelert. A plump, starry-eyed, pearly-toothed Silver Gelert, with a Candychan on his shoulder. For just one brief instant, I actually fell in love.

Then he opened his mouth, the melody of a rusty saw cut the air, and my enchantment shattered.

"You can't be a servant. The Master doesn't allow the servants to keep PetPets. You don't mean to say that some revolting mistake has occurred and you have actually been brought here as one of us? You think yourself an ARISTOCRAT, just because that Travis, who acts far above his station, gave you a pretty little Necklace of the Water Faerie? And that Christmas Doglefox. Pitiful excuse for a painted PetPet. They're dirt cheap, you know. I don't know who you're trying to fool, Galleyfog or whatever your name is, but there is no way in the world that WE will stoop to associate with filth like YOU."

And he flicked my paw ever so delicately, as if he could flick me away like a speck of dust.

I pulled my paw away as if it had been burned, and looked at the three pets in utter disgust. I glanced at the paw which the Silver Gelert had flicked, figuring it was now somehow tainted after being touched by this nauseating snob.

"I think I'll take a swim," I announced with great dignity, and stepped around the three painted NeoPets and onto the first of the concrete steps that led down into the pool.

The Faerie Peophin rose to her feet and turned to face me, her eyes narrowing to slits. She flexed her limbs as though she thought there were muscles under there somewhere. When she spoke, it was in a "deadly whisper" that sounded like a whining baby Chia.

"You actually think we're going to allow you to pollute our pool?"

I stared at her. I could barely believe the situation. I know what I did was rather rude, but quite frankly, it was impossible not to do it. I burst out laughing.

I had sailed the wild seas of a hurricane, when the waves block out the sky. I had lived in the Pound with a Lupe who would tear my throat out if I looked at her, where you had to fight for every breath you took, every crumb you could find, every drop of water you swallowed. _I _had escaped the Laboratory of the Necromage...and now I was being challenged by a Faerie Peophin who had lived her life in the pages of a fashion catalouge? Who'd been raised in a house with a giant heated pool, and queen-sized feather beds, and was used to having her meals brought to her on a silver platter?

I could turn her into Koi bait.

However, I was not in the mood for fighting. I simply pushed past the ridiculous Peophin and dove into the pool. The Peophin merely stood there, gaping at me, obviously not at all used to not getting her way.

I bared my teeth. Slowly, she started backing out of the room, her siblings not far behind. I growled. The three of them turned tail and ran for their lives. The Shadow Skeith bodyguards only chuckled, and I joined them, my laughter echoing off the walls of the huge, empty room. I relaxed, floating on my back in the pool, quite satisfied.

My pleasure did not last long, however. What was luxury worth, after all, without anyone to share it with? What good were riches if they did not include the greatest treasures of all: friendship...and love?

And trust. I had trusted Marina completely, with all my heart, more than I had trusted any other creature in the world. When she had broken my trust and abandoned me, when she had chosen her career over her love for me, my heart had broken. From then on, I could never truly trust or open my heart to anyone...not even Travis, the servant, who was so kind to me.

It went on for days, for weeks...the cold, bare, meaningless luxury...being treated like a filthy piece of garbage by the Peophin, Wocky, and Silver Gelert.

Every day, my heart hardened a little bit more than the day before. And gradually, I began to become like those four cruel and snobby pets. I began to see things through their eyes, and though it didn't bring them any closer to accepting me, I adopted it anyway. It became my point of view on life: I am the ultimate pet in the world, no other pet or human, except of course the Master, is worthy of licking my paws, no one cares about me, I care about no one and nothing, and that's the way it should be.

This was worse even than my body being warped by a Mutilator. What ended up being warped was my heart.

Day after day I spent receiving and donning expensive garments and jewelry, relaxing in luxurious spas while being massaged with sweet-scented lotions by doting maids, drowning myself in fancy makeup, playing with every unbuyable toy you could dream of, swimming in the giant indoor pool.

Week after week I kept up the all-important image of one of the four richest, most pampered, most powerful, and happiest pets in all of Neopia.

Month after month, my heart shriveled away.

I was eaten up by the pain of my life; external pain, internal pain, starvation, rejection, anger, humiliation, helplessness, terror, grief. The pain was like a parasite, like a virus; it fed on me, it ate away at me like a disease, hollowing out my heart, making me more and more untrusting, selfish, greedy, and bitter.

I grew to look down on Travis and shrink away from every sign of affection he offered, until he finally gave up and treated me with the same simple servant-master deference with which he treated my three "siblings". And then there really was no one in that house who loved or cared for me, not the least bit.

I was surrounded by luxury, by three "siblings" and legion upon legion of bodyguards and servants, not to mention the mysterious, elusive "Master" of whom I saw only a few brief glimpses; the richest person in Neopia is very busy indeed. I was surrounded by all this wealth and all these NeoPets, and yet I was unbearably lonely. And the loneliness turned me into a self-centered, heartless monster.

Then came the day when my life changed utterly and completely...for the last time.


	5. Part Five: The Final Pain and How My Sto...

**Part 5: The Final Pain...And How My Story Ends**

I remember it as if it was yesterday.

I was sitting on the red velvet-cushioned windowseat by the giant picture window in the front of the Mansion. My "siblings" (who I was still not even close to thinking of as my real sisters and brother) were still in bed. I was an early riser; it was a habit that the red Lupe at the Pound had taught me, and even several months of living in the Master's Mansion had not cured me of it. My own personal legion of Shadow Skeith bodyguards was crowded several feet behind me, standing in their usual straight, stiff postures, hands at the hilts of their weapons.

Greenox sat beside me, his ears and tail limp, his eyes on the floor. The terrible ways in which I had changed had saddened him so much. He knew how ashamed I was of him, how disdainful, how infuriated I was that the Master didn't have the time to worry about my getting a half-decent PetPet. The number of times I had snapped at him, or slapped him away when he tried to nuzzle me or cuddle with me as he used to, had subdued him into this pitiful creature. Faithful Greenox...even then, he continued to stand by me, praying, he later confessed, that I would eventually come to my senses.

But I am getting off track. I need to focus on the story I am supposed to be telling.

As I was saying, I was perched primly on the windowseat, with a pair of Desert Aisha maids brushing my long silky fur, the fur I so obsessed over cleaning, grooming, and decorating to compensate for the utterly disgraceful fact that it was not painted. I had been admiring my new Blizzard Ring when suddenly, my head snapped up.

I had heard a noise, coming from some distant point outside the window. Or had I imagined it? The Aishas stopped grooming me, confused, as I cocked one ear.

Yes! There it was again, this time so loud that Greenox jumped, the Aishas dropped their brushes, and the Shadow Skeiths, who I had almost forgotten were live NeoPets and not statues, whipped out their weapons and surged forward, ready to defend me.

But I was not the one who needed defending. I was the only pet present with ears keen enough to tell me that the scream which had startled us all was a cry for help.

I leapt from the windowseat and ran to the door. At that point, I had no notion whatsoever of helping whoever had voiced that cry; my only concern was making sure that there was no danger to the Mansion or its property.

Without thinking, I glibly picked the dozen heavy padlocks on the door, causing the Skeith bodyguards and Aisha maids to goggle at me in shock; lock-picking was not a technique that the prim and proper NeoPets of the Master were expected to have any knowledge of. That skill was reserved for the dregs of Neopia, the poor, worthless, street-smart, hard-scrabbling pets of the streets and the Pound; it was just another relic of the pet I used to be.

Ignoring the servants' astonishment, I bounded out the door, across the vast courtyard, and into the woods which covered much of the Master's property. I had no fear for my own safety; fighting, like lock-picking, is a skill which is difficult to unlearn. I, for one, had not unlearnt it.

Claws flexed, teeth bared, hackles raised, I leapt and swerved and dodged through the forest, picking up numerous bruises and scratches on the way, getting sprayed with dirt, and having my newly-groomed fur tangled by outstretched branches and thorns.

Being who I now was, I should have been horrified by such atrocities, but I was not. Lady Galleymyst had been left behind way back at the Mansion; and so had the homeless Myst, the Pound-imprisoned Myst, the terrified Myst in the Necromage's laboratory. The old Myst was back, the oldest Myst there was, the Myst who had a kind, brave, loving owner...an owner named Marina. That Myst who, like her beloved owner, was not afraid of anything.

I came skidding to a stop at the edge of a large clearing. There in the middle of it, I witnessed an incredible scene.

A beautiful Striped Shoyru, her eyes full of courage and defiance as much as fear, was standing with her legs apart and her arms spread wide, defending a lovely Blue Uni who lay badly wounded and apparently unconscious on the ground behind her.

The creature from whom she was attempting to shield her sister was like no other I had ever seen before. It appeared to be a tall, imposing woman with wild ebony hair and a devious sneer on her face, clad in pale twilight silk. But around her neck she wore a menacing crimson amulet upon which a gaunt, horrible face was portrayed, and from her shoulders arched two billowy black wings. Her eyes glittering maliciously, she stood there taunting the Shoyru, obviously having some fun before finishing off both pets.

Although I had never before set eyes on one of her kind, I had heard legends of them, and read about them in the picture books Marina used to buy me on Half Price Day. I knew that this evil creature could only be the legendary Jhudora, the Dark Faerie. I also knew that her powers were nothing to laugh at. That she was among the most dangerous beings in all Neopia. That she was vicious, ruthless. That if I went up against her, there was no way in Neopia I could win.

But I could distract her. I could step between her and the Shoyru and Uni. I could allow her to do whatever she wished to me, giving the two pets time to get away.

Of course, then there would be no chance for me to get away myself.

_I've gone mad! _I thought. _Sacrifice my precious noble life for these two lowly, disgusting, pathetic NeoPets? What a joke!_

Yet somehow...for some reason...I wasn't laughing. Something, some little voice in my mind that I had suppressed all these months, was trying to speak to me, struggling to get through.

_You're not precious, Galleymyst. You're not noble. You aren't even happy. You've never been happy. Not since __Marina__ left you. You're nothing but a cruel, conceited, depressed, corrupt monster with a heart that was shattered into a million pieces long ago, and was never, ever repaired._

It was true. And there was no way in the world that I could pretend anymore that it wasn't. I knew in that moment that I, the NeoPet I had become, wasn't worth anything, and didn't deserve to live. I thought then that there was no hope of healing or redemption. Why live a life that wasn't worth living?

If I saved the lives of those two innocent NeoPets, I would pay with my own life. I would die. But at least I would know that because of my sacrifice, two others would live.

The moment had come for me to make a life-or-death decision; and yet there was no decision to make. I realized then that I was willing to suffer, willing to die, willing to be broken once again, for at least I knew it was to be the last time.

I uttered no cry. I did not leap heroically into the midst of the battle. Instead, I merely stepped calmly out of the shadows to stand between the Dark Faerie and her two intended victims.

A look of surprise crossed Jhudora's face, but it did not last long. She quickly regained her composure and, smirking broadly, sent a bolt of dark magic into my chest, a bolt powerful enough to electrocute stone. It sent me flying ten feet into the air, and I landed with a sickening thud.

Pain lanced through my body, like nothing I had ever felt before; it was like being run through with a dozen razor-sharp, white-hot metal spears. The Striped Shoyru screamed and ran to my side, but then the evil Faerie crowed with triumph and turned to murder the unconscious Uni.

The Shoyru had no choice but to leave me and leap in front of her helpless sister. Her eyes darted quickly back and forth, assessing the situation, and even through my pain I saw the lightbulb go on in her head, saw tears spring to her eyes as she realized what was happening. If she left her sister's side to help me, even for a moment, her sister would be killed.

She knew then exactly what I was doing, and what I expected her to do. I was sacrificing myself for her and her sister. She was to take the wounded Uni and flee. I was to remain to prevent Jhudora from pursuing them...remain...and die.

Sobbing uncontrollably, the Shoyru, with great effort, lifted the Uni into her arms. Enfolding the delicate creature protectively in her wings, she turned and, with one last look over her shoulder at me, a look so filled with grief that it seemed to pierce the broken fragments of my heart, she sped away into the woods. Her burden was too heavy for her to fly.

With a few flaps of her violet wings, the wicked Faerie thrust herself into the air and took off after her prey. I was prepared for this, however; I bunched up my muscles and leapt at her, determined to cut her off.

We collided in midair, and fell together to strike the ground. Spasms of pain ran through my head, still throbbing from my previous fall. Gasping with the effort my leap had taken after the Faerie's powerful attack, I rolled over onto my back, shaking with physical exhaustion.

Outraged at having her fun interrupted and losing her victims, Jhudora scrambled to her feet and swung her fist, connecting squarely with my stomach. Every ounce of air rushed from my lungs, and I howled with agony as I felt several ribs break.

Leering triumphantly, Jhudora closed her eyes and grasped her frightening amulet. Another bolt of power, like black lightning, came crackling out of the amulet to strike me in the leg. With no air in my lungs with which to howl, I could only whimper softly.

The Shoyru and Uni had gained enough distance now, even if Jhudora pursued them. I was free to leave, to escape. But even as I considered it, I knew the idea was laughable. Nevertheless, I staggered drunkenly to my feet and took a few halfhearted steps toward the woods, but I soon collapsed like a ton of bricks. Making it back to the Mansion, or anywhere else, was impossible for me in this state. My plan, I saw grimly, would be carried out to the bitter end.

Another coil of dark magic slammed into me, searing my back and attacking my nerves. Toppling back to the ground, this time I did not get up. I cringed and curled up in a ball. I didn't even feel the next blow. I was somewhere else by then, somewhere beyond pain, hovering in some dim nexus between this world and the next.

As the waves of agony rolled toward me, I drew away, deeper into this nexus, closer and closer to the blissful darkness that lay on the other side. As spots of black and crimson swam before my eyes, as my vision dulled and my soul drifted further and further from my body, till it was connected by a mere thread, I tried and tried to reach beyond the pain, and waited for the bolt that would strike my heart.

That bolt never came. For it was then that something strange and marvelous occurred, something I cannot explain to you now, esteemed reader, any more than I could then.

A face appeared before me, floating, hovering high above me, a worn but beautiful face surrounded by a wild halo of golden hair. There before my eyes, clear as day, I saw the one thing in all the world which could possibly convince me to hold onto my own pitiful life...the one creature in all the world who had ever loved me.

I did not feel the need to say her name, and nor do I feel that it is necessary to do so now; suffice to say that her hands were calloused and etched with the faintest traces of salt, and her azure eyes were filled with the music of the sea.

Neither of us spoke. There was nothing that needed to be said. She reached out and lovingly touched my paw with her gentle hand, and I relaxed. Forest or nexus or land of darkness, rich or poor, painted or plain, even alive or dead, it did not matter anymore. Somewhere there was someone who loved me...and somehow, that was enough.

* * *

I awoke to pain. Raw, jagged, shattering pain. It was not a nice feeling to wake up to. But I also heard sounds, saw light and color, felt softness and warmth, and I thought, _I'm alive__!_

With that revelation, I blinked several times and looked down at myself. My injuries must have been pretty severe, because I was wrapped up in so many bandages and casts that I resembled a mummy.

Then I looked up from the bed in which I was lying. A smile spread across the tear-stained face of a short, slender girl standing over me. Her blue-green eyes lit up when she saw that I was awake. Blonde hair cascaded down her back.

"Marina?" I whispered.

The girl reached out a slightly trembling hand. She took my paw and squeezed it. Her hand was soft, not like Marina's oar-calloused palm.

"Shh. Don't try to talk if it hurts, darling. Don't you worry about a thing. You're safe now."

"The Dark Faerie?" I managed to choke out.

"I uncorked a Stream of Light. Its brilliance blinded her temporarily and disabled her powers. She won't be bothering anyone else for quite a while."

The girl poured some water between my lips, which I swallowed gratefully. She smiled, but I could still see worry in her eyes as she stroked my forehead, and I heard it in her voice when she spoke again. "You need to rest, honey. You've been through quite a lot. You're lucky to be alive."

"Thank you...for saving me," I choked out.

Looking surprised, the girl shook her head earnestly. "Please don't thank me, darling. It's my beloved pets who saved you, and it was small payment for what you did for them. They owe you their lives."

I gaped up at her. "Your pets?"

She nodded solemnly, and stepped aside, revealing, to my surprise, a second bed behind her. And there in that bed lay two bandaged female NeoPets, about my age: a striped Shoyru and a blue Uni. Of course, I recognized them instantly. They both rolled over to face me, and the Uni smiled weakly.

"Thank _you_," she whispered. I could only stare at her.

"What's your name?" the Shoyru asked to fill the awkward silence.

"Galleymyst," I replied. "Galleymyst. But you can call me Myst."

The human girl nodded, her eyes shining. "That's a beautiful name." She walked over to the other bed and put her arms around the Shoyru and Uni. "Myst, meet IsadoraMoonChild and Twlight414. Isadora, Twlight, meet your new sister."

My eyes widened. Slowly, I turned to take another look at this girl. Somewhere, somewhere deep in the sea of sharp, broken, pierced, and mangled shards that had once been my innocent, trusting, loving, hopeful heart, some tiny microscopic spark of that old familiar hope was rekindled. In my eyes, I know it warred with the lesson of disbelief and mistrust that I had learned so well over and over again ever since my heart was broken for the first time.

"Sister?" I croaked.

The girl walked slowly back over to my bed. Slowly, she eased her arms around me, lifted me out of bed, and held me tenderly against her chest, her lips buried in my fur.

"Yes, Myst. I am your new owner, HauntedMoon."

That name.

It had been so long, and I had gone through so much since then, so many terrible changes, that the fact that I still remembered it was nothing short of a miracle. But immediately, my eyes filled with tears.

Resting my exhausted head on HauntedMoon's shoulder, letting the tears run down my face in torrents, letting myself cry as I had not cried since my first owner abandoned me in the Pound, I whispered, "And you once had another Gelert...a beautiful Cloud Gelert with a heart of gold...and her name was Jetzu."

* * *

And now, reader, we approach a point in this story which I will be profoundly relieved to reach, as my voice has tired from this lengthy telling, and my eyelids are drooping with my need for rest. I have recounted all of the important events that have taken place in my life up until this very moment. I have arrived at the present. The end.

The sky is clear tonight, a deep midnight blue, and filled with trillions of glittering golden-white stars. The moon is shining down on us, and appears almost full. Its surreal silvery light shimmers in pools on the crashing, rolling inky black waves of the nighttime sea.

Isadora and Twlight are farther up the beach, playing tag in the moonlight, but before I join them I would like to spend a few minutes alone here, at what is, in a way, the place where it all began.

As the cool, refreshing spray dampens my fur, as the salty, fishy smell fills my nostrils and its taste fills my mouth, I am reminded of the happiest era of my life before this one, of a time that is gone forever, but not in my memories, not in my heart.

A storm has just ended, and a beautiful silvery-white mist has descended over the ocean. As I watch it drift and swirl, I can't help but wonder; wonder what secrets that mist is hiding, what mysteries it conceals. Wonder if, beyond that mist, a ship is rolling slowly across those ebony waves, and a girl, young for her job, is standing at the helm, her indigo eyes wandering for a moment from the course ahead of her, as she pauses briefly to remember fondly the little yellow Gelert who once shared her life, and to wonder what has become of her.

I said this was the end of my story, but endings are funny things, you know. Eras end, like leaves falling away to slowly crumble into dust and be lost forever. Some friendships don't end at all, even when friends are separated forever. Lives may seem to end, but then you open your eyes and find that you've been given yet another chance.

The sea, when you look at it, seems to go on forever, yet it too ends, somewhere far away, where it meets that hazy indistinct horizon. Stories end, like this one, but how can it end just when I have begun another life so new and full of promise? Can the ending of one story be just the beginning of another? And how do you know, then, when something has really come to an end? You might just turn the page and find another chapter.

My thoughts are interrupted by the nuzzle of Greenox. He crawls up my arm to my shoulder and nestles against my cheek. I smile fondly as I stroke him, remembering HauntedMoon describing to me how he must have followed me from the Mansion to that clearing in the woods. He was with me when Isadora brought her back to me, when the two of them found me unconscious in the grass with Jhudora standing over me, when HauntedMoon uncorked the Stream of Light, rendering the evil Faerie harmless, and brought me home with her, home to heal, home to stay.

I raise my head from my front paws, upon which I was resting it, when I hear footsteps approaching quietly across the coarse shell-strewn sand. I turn to see HauntedMoon kneel down beside me. She smiles her gentle, radiant smile and opens her arms. Happily, I crawl into them, and she enfolds me in her embrace. Snuggling up to my new owner, with Greenox perched contentedly on my shoulder, I feel warm and secure and safe.

I have gone through so much throughout my life...the pain of rejection, of loneliness, of hunger, of horror, the pain of a warped and poisoned soul, making my personality foreign to my own heart, the pain of the Dark Faerie's brutal attack.

There are all kinds of pain, both physical and emotional, and I'm afraid I have probably experienced just about all of them. I came out with a lot of scars...some on my body, many more on my heart. Those are the worst ones, the ugliest and most painful, and over time some of them will heal a little, but I will never be the same sweet, brave, carefree, and happy Gelert that I was as a pup.

However, there will be times when I will smile, when I will laugh, when I will romp and play with my sisters, although I will always be a little bit different from them, a little bit apart, because of the things that I have experienced. Nevertheless, I am content with the lesson that I have finally learned, with the knowledge I have gained which I needed so desperately: that life goes on, and love is eternal, and even after all that has happened to me, I can learn to love again.

"I still can't quite believe it," I softly confess to HauntedMoon. "That I finally have a home. A family." I turn to look straight into her eyes, so kind, so full of love. "It really is forever...isn't it?"

"Yes, Myst," my owner whispers as she holds me close. "Forever, for always, unending."


End file.
